For Red Sox, a brand new start after collapse

Friday

Nov 1, 2013 at 8:28 PM

BOSTON — On Wednesday night, moments after Fenway Park had reached a crescendo unheard for nigh a century, Larry Lucchino was asked to assess the state of the Red Sox brand.“It looks fixed to me,” the...

By TIM BRITTON

BOSTON — On Wednesday night, moments after Fenway Park had reached a crescendo unheard for nigh a century, Larry Lucchino was asked to assess the state of the Red Sox brand.

“It looks fixed to me,” the team president said.

The collapse of 2011 and the last-place finish of 2012 had engendered wide-ranging criticism of the Red Sox organization. It wasn’t just a roster problem, the critics said, it was a brand issue.

The once-unbreakable Red Sox brand had fallen.

Season-ticket sales were down. The sellout streak would end in the first month of the season. Discounted concession prices in April were the franchise’s way of reaching out to an alienated fan base.

Advertisements throughout New England promised that “WHAT’S BROKEN CAN BE FIXED” and that 2013 offered “162 CHANCES TO RESTORE THE FAITH.”

By Wednesday, that mission had long ago been accomplished. The Red Sox brand may be healthier now than ever before.

“When you lose, you deserve to be criticized. We had a bad year last year, no doubt about it,” principal owner John Henry said. “These fans are why we came to Boston in the first place. You want to be in an organization, players want to play for an organization where the fans care, where the fans show up every night. The fans of Boston make this very special every year.”

“Everybody knew that we had a lot of issues to work out and fix and get through,” Red Sox chief operating officer Sam Kennedy said. “We did it together as an organization, and that’s what makes it feel so good. There was such unity between the business side and the baseball side.

“I did not think we were going to fix all the issues in one year. But they did.”

Winning, of course, is the ultimate salve. But the 2013 Red Sox also happened to fulfill those secondary marketing checkpoints. They didn’t just win; they won in exciting fashion, with 11 walk-off wins in the regular season and a 12th in the postseason.

Boston boasted its typical star power with a returning core that included David Ortiz — as good as ever — along with Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester. The role players it added in the offseason helped make this the most likable Red Sox team since 2004.

A normal corner outfielder brought in from free agency who hits .247 in a part-time role generally elicits venom from the fan base. But Jonny Gomes certainly isn’t your normal corner outfielder brought in from free agency. He played Fenway’s left field like no one before (or hopefully after), and he lived up to his reputation as a unifying force in the clubhouse.

Mike Napoli and David Ross joined Gomes in sparking team-wide beards. By September, fans at Fenway were donning their own makeshift beards — be they homegrown, strapped to the head or simply drawn on.

This wasn’t a mistake. In constructing this year’s roster, general manager Ben Cherington searched not only for talent but for players who would embrace the unique challenges of playing in Boston. That’s Gomes, who emerged as a leader in the clubhouse by the time exhibition games in spring training started. That’s Ross, whose affability and talent for self-deprecation make him largely immune to the critical spotlight of the city.

“I think we got back to our basics,” Henry said. “We got back to the philosophy we had when we started. We had sort of drifted away, I think somewhat because we have the resources to be a little less disciplined than other teams. But you’ve got to give all the credit in the world to Ben Cherington in making the decisions he made to bring in the players.”

“Individually, they’re strong. As a group, they’re strong,” said Cherington. “Hopefully, we represented the city in a way that made everyone else in Boston proud. I know it meant a lot to them. When the Marathon tragedy happened, they didn’t need to be told anything. As a group of players, they did stuff on their own. They came together on their own. It was a completely genuine, organic movement. It really drove them through the year.”

What was broken has been fixed, and the faith has been restored. As the celebration continued well after the final out on Wednesday night, Kennedy was asked whether he’d have any of the same issues selling tickets this winter as last. He smiled.